Published just before lunchtime of February 27, 2007
rebelpixel productions was featured on Manila Bulletin’s Blog–O–Rama! Finally, after years of blogging and shooting and hacking code, this weblog is getting some mainstream attention, even just for one day. Something like my little 15 minutes of fame.
Ajay interviewed me a few weeks back and it was finally published yesterday. If you have a copy of The Manila Bulletin for February 26, read my interview and indulge my ego for a brief while. (Hehe.) For my readers not in the Philippines, you can read it online or peruse this hi-res image if you want to go through it as printed. Yes, for all three of you.
And since I already began promoting myself, you wouldn’t mind a bit more of this, right?
Two Saturdays ago, I finally had a photo I took published on a national daily. On print. The series of photos above were taken during the press conference for last December’s Graphika Manila. Luckily, Jayvee invited me to tag along to shoot some pics for the event. And they were published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Super section to accompany a story on the great Joshua Davis! Woohoo!
Lastly, I didn’t know a photo of me was published on the Manila Bulletin for its story on the Blogparteeh last month. Until Noemi wrote about it. Yes, that’s me holding a book on the bottom left photo, taken by Karla, a cropped version of what I posted in this entry.
I never thought I’d get the chance to get published but the past few months has proven me wrong. I guess passion for the things I love is somehow rewarding itself.
My bro txted me yesterday after the reading the Bulletin, quite proud of his Kuya. Hehe. (We’ll get that car soon!) My dad messaged me too and bought several copies of yesterday’s paper. My mother who’s in Cebu right now got a copy for each of my grandpas. Hahaha. Of course my sis was just sound asleep at home. Or watching Grey’s Anatomy. Hehe. And my friends at the office were so proud, Mike even posted the article in a bulletin board. Happy times.
I might be away for the next few days. I’m supposed to choose between Boracay, Puerto Galera, and Pangasinan’s Hundred Islands. Suddenly, I’m having a hard time choosing from three good things.
Yeah, subliminal suggestions fully intended. Now pardon the melodrama, I couldn’t help it after reading my responses to Ajay’s interview. And my birthday’s less than a week from now.
Anyway, in the end, we all live for the drama.
32 Replies·
2007.02.27
Published in the wee hours of February 26, 2007
You’ve got your housemates ready. You have a wonderful program planned. You market the launching well ahead, and very well at that. The female hosts are now all slim and sexy for the launch night. (Bianca’s abs were awesome!) You have the “6-housemates-only” gimmick to get people to ask questions. You even have a hottie of a hunk for a housemate. (Okay, that sounded gay.) And you have a new layout for the new season. And then you get this:
All this while trying to sell online subscriptions to Filipinos trapped in some foreign land trying to earn a decent living. Was the surge in traffic a few hours after the launch really that bad (or good in a traffic growth perspective)? Did the admin forget to empty cleanup the server? Did the server refuse to cooperate? Was the site hacked? Or should they be using PHP instead? 
If I knew I wouldn’t be asking, really! Now this makes my blog a legitimate web design weblog. I think that’s under the “Technology” category in the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Also known as the “PBA,” and since we only consider Filipino blogs, we might as well call it the “2007 PBA All–Filipino Cup,” which Ginebra just won, so all this award brouhaha is for naught since the Finals was over in six games.
Did you know San Miguel was leading the series 2–0 before losing the title in four straight games? Only three teams have done that before in the PBA’s storied history. One of them was a Coca Cola squad under Chot Reyes, who also coached the Dondon Hontiveros–Danny Seigle–Lordy Tugade–powered (imagine that firepower? 20+ from any two, on any night, theoretically) beermen. And he will be heading our national team program, to which I do not object to without any sarcasm. But the lost was quite disappointing, and that’s putting it nicely. He’s the best coach for the job, unless Ron Jacobs was still in active service, or Baby Dalupan.
(Note to self: Stop writing too many blog entries in one night after downing two bottles of Red Bull in too short a time, it’s not good for the brain. It could make you write too many parenthetical notes.)
(Another note: After all this mad blogging in one night, be sure to finish the camera hands–on or Upper & Eva will be trying the Olympus mju 725sw’s shockproof feature on your head.)
Now seriously, on the topic of the error on PBB2’s site, I think the sudden surge in traffic was causing problems. This is likely related to their projections in traffic growth based on last season’s run, and they could’ve been too conservative expecting much less visitors. (Yes I’m doing too much PBB2 blogging for tonight.)
(Really last note: Stop all the parenthical inserts, you’re beginning to look like a crazy fan of Amanda’s blog.)
On the San Miguel–Ginebra All–Filipino Finals, I thought San Miguel was a shoo–in but was expecting some “exciting” games so Ginebra wouldn’t look so bad; now I think they really deserved to be champions by doing it in fashion, four consecutive convincing wins.
Chot Reyes is definitely the best coach for our national basketball team. No other active Filipino coach can do the job effectively. Certainly not Jong Uichico or any of the San Miguel–backed strategists. But they could pool all coaching resources to make one solid basketball philosophy — to produce one fine squad of Filipino dribblers.
Lastly, I did not influence you on the Philippine Blog Awards thingie, I did not subconsciously suggest that you nominate me for all the categories. I just didn’t. Though I could write an entry for every category in the coming days, that wouldn’t be right, right? Wrong?
8 Replies·
2007.02.26
- Canon EOS-1D Mark III released!
→
10 frames per second up to 110 JPEGs at full resolution of the 10.1 megapixel APS–H sensor. 3–inch LCD with Live View. ISO 100-3200, plus ISO 50 and 6400 extensions. 19 cross–type AF sensors. No better camera exists. #
- 52 Proven Stress Reducers
→
I gotta try at least some of these stress reduction guides, or just simply simplify my life. #
Published in the wee hours of February 26, 2007
Okay this is pure SE linkbait material. But anyway…
The launch for Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 just concluded with only six housemates officially inside the house as of this evening. But why only six? Interestingly, this should be one of the network’s gimmicks for this season to further raise interest in the show.
Of the first six housemates, I think Wendy is the most interesting, at least from a male perspective. Hehe. Gee-ann should be another favorite, though Mickey should provide all the stumbles and twists in the upcoming days with his inability to speak neither Filipino nor English. What the hell is he doing there?!
I txted my friend Hana who does HR work for our office: “Pinoy Big Brother na naman, mababa na naman ang productivity ng mga tao nito. Hehehe.”
By the way, I heard a rumor through our “Boy Abunda of the Pinoy Web” (not Soxy Topacio) that ball player/model/gay magnet Bruce Quebral will be in PBB2, likely one of the remaining housemates still to enter the house. True? We’ll see.
Now excuse me, I have to get my PBB2 updates. I’m sure Retz is busy working tonight too. 
81 Replies·
2007.02.26
- Clique Booth
→
The cat is now out of the bag: Clique Booth is a project of Fotogra Weddings that will change the way Filipino weddings are covered! There’s no other reason to have your wedding photographed by someone else, except if you’re getting me! #
- Is Your Notebook Battery Losing Life Fast?
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There’s a discussion regarding laptop battery life problems that may not be related to the battery itself at all. #
- Monuments
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“And so I?m one of the young people who believe very little in the spirit of Edsa, whatever that may be. Of course, Edsa is still a point of pride — no matter what happens, that moment is stark in the purest pursuit of freedom and human dignity that the world will probably never see again. It?s what happened after — and what was forgotten — that makes it feel as if we?ve knelt too long at the foot of an oppressive monument.” #
Published in the early evening of February 23, 2007
This one’s for real. Recognizing the best Filipino weblogs that continue to provide engaging content to its readers, this will be the very first to honor those that excel not just in the local but worldwide scene of independently published weblogs. Uniquely, the whole event will be blogger–powered and not a PR event of some local media outfit masquerading as a legitimate authority in the field of web design. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Nominate your favorite pinoy weblogs now!
7 Replies·
2007.02.23
Published in the early evening of February 15, 2007
Gail has been teasing me that I’d probably be the last to write about our trip to the 11th International Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta so as not to disappoint, I let everyone blog ahead of me. Believe me!
Upon arrival at the airfield, I was overwhelmed by the number of digital SLRs mounted on tripods scattered all over the area. To say 80% of all cameras present were DSLRs is a conservative estimate. I felt like not shooting at all, though having driven that far without sleep, I know I should at least go home with a few keepers. So I started snapping.
It took some time before the balloons were actually airborne, so I just used the lull to shoot other photographers and spectators.
As the sun rose above the horizon, the first few balloons started to fly and move away from the rest of the pack.
Soon after, everyone was up in the air and the crowd was busy snapping more photos as the hot air balloons flew away.
The whole event wasn’t exactly as good as I expected it to be, though I guess it’s still nice enough to go to every year. We didn’t bother waiting for the afternoon events, Rico was asleep before we were done with our morning shooting and Marc was visibly tired as we had brunch. Abe, on the other hand, still had the energy to drive and (wrongly) lead us around the area looking for the lunch spot Anton suggested.
Jayvee enjoyed his lightsphere so much that he was shooting with it in the open field. As expected, Sasha was all smiles while gamely posing and shooting with her new 400D. Joey was also busy with his 350D while occasionally posing for us and Gail, though sleepless since the evening before, was still her usual bubbly self.
The little race on our drive home was fun before traffic began to clog. I was mechanically limited and unable to catch up with Rico and Marc (driving Abe’s car) in the open road, though hopefully next year I’ll be riding a faster set of wheels. Next year ulit! By the way, here’s my full album of photos from the event and if you’re on multiply, you can browse the same set and leave comments.
12 Replies·
2007.02.15
Published late at night of February 14, 2007
how can i tell you the truth
when you’re not even trying to listen
how can i say what i want
when you don’t even want to consider
how can i tell you what’s true
when you don’t want to hear what i’m saying
how do i tell you it’s you
when you’re not even there and you’re missing
ain’t nothing wrong with what i have to say
’cause i can’t help it if i feel this way
here i am, please give me a chance to say what i feel
there you are, don’t you want to find out what’s real
here we are, there’s nothing quite wrong with spending some time
what happens now, things will probably turn out fine
how can i listen to you
when i can’t understand what you’re saying
how can i give you what’s due
when you don’t even know what you’re asking
how can i tell you what’s wrong
when there’s nothing that’s wrong to correct yet
how do i say i like you
’cause it’s obvious i’ve always felt this way
… how do i say i love you
’cause i know i already feel this way
… what happens now, all these things should just work out fine.
- how do i / jonas castelo / pop ratio / sessions.10.23.2005 -
***
Happy hearts day everyone.
6 Replies·
2007.02.14
Published mid-afternoon of February 8, 2007
It’s now the second month of 2007 and in my tradition of posting entries later than expected, I’m writing about some useless stats for the year that was. You wouldn’t be surprised that these metrics do justify the decline of this weblog in many aspects, not only in traffic but also in influence and authority.
- In 2006, I wrote a total of 79 entries. This figure pales significantly against my 2005 figure of 123, which means I reached only 64% of my 2005 posting volume.
- 2006 managed to attract 952 comments, marginally lower than 2005’s count of 1059 reader comments. Certainly, I wrote less linkbait–worthy material based on the interaction produced with my readers, resulting in less conversations. This is the perfect anti–thesis to my suggestion that posting photos is much easier than blogging.
- My entries last year averaged 1283.27 characters in length, 25% longer than the previous average of 1020.60 characters. Technically though, the increase in post length could’ve been a result of the extra markup used when posting photos in blog entries, not necessarily increase in actual readable content.
- Total character count for all entries in 2006 was 101378, very much lower than 2005’s 125534, it being just 80% of the total length of entries for the preceding year.
- I posted 254 recent link items for 2006, a hundred more than the year before that. Sharing more links is good, though quality of links is more important.
If you’re using WordPress, you can easily obtain these metrics as shared on alexking.org.
Evaluating the data I mentioned along with this weblog’s declining status, I conclude that: I need to write good entries more often.
Pardon the unrelated photo.
9 Replies·
2007.02.08
Published late at night of February 2, 2007
With the interest of my loyal readers in mind, I thought it would be nice to sustain curiosity and live up to their expectations by not writing about the Blogparteeh at all. An entire blog entry for this one event, that would be so atypical of my content. rebelpixel productions is characterized by the absence of content and substance, anything more would be a travesty! But my subscriber count is dwindling down and my PageRank is falling, so I better reclaim some of my traffic. Like as if I had a substantial figure before.
I finally met Bo Sanchez. Of all places, I never thought I’d get to know him in a blogger party, with wild kids prancing around like Sorsi and Mike, reportedly the local blogosphere’s latest love team. I chatted with Bo for a while just before he had his short message for everyone, after which he signed free copies of his books that he gave away. I was fortunate enough to grab a copy each of the two books provided, but Karla wasn’t. Having read the first book more than a year ago, I gave it to her instead and had her take my photo holding the second one.
Now that’s one happy guy with one nice book. I just scanned page one, though I don’t really want to go deep into it until I have a few hours to spare so I can finish it in one sitting, or at least internalize its content somehow.
Before the party got even started, I discussed SEO with Abe and Seoluv who was quite serious about his most recent campaign. Juned was passing by and took some photos, which he continued to do for most of the party with all the cameras he was carrying around.
Elber was joking the party could’ve been a Canon User Group Philippines Grand EB with all the 350D bodies snapping around. The food was superb and I would’ve wanted more servings if not for my current obsession with losing weight. Kiven was surprisingly present and we talked with Sasha, Rico, and Jayvee for most of the afternoon. I also had a nice chat with Luis Buenaventura about web 2.0 and PHP and Ruby on Rails, and seeing his observation on the casual conversations during the party, I’m sharing a tip: it’s not about the party, but the after–party!
The seemingly non–stop raffle kept everyone moving and talking and by the end of the event, everyone officially hated AJ for winning the iPod Video. That should’ve been mine! Now the after–party was something, imagine this: 8 hours, three venues, lots of alcohol and coffee, countless packs of cigarettes, and lastly non–stop flow of blogger chika and kwentuhan. Jozzua was the chismis–master and we talked about everything, though sadly not about Aileen and her companion Ian (Hello bai!) for fear of being delisted from Google. [Eh sinabi mo na eh!]
It was already 3 in the morning when Marc and Gail joined us and things got from warm to hot! Let’s just say Noel and Marc were flashing their SEO smiles as Gail broke years of atmospheric purity. Pardon the choice of words, I couldn’t find something else to romanticize smoking.
A round of applause for every pinoy blogger and another for our organizers! I can’t wait for the next event.
Edit: just adding this blogparteeh07 tag.
7 Replies·
2007.02.02
